Burton Albion
Burton Albion Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team play in the Championship, the second tier of English football. Burton Albion competed in the non-League of English football from their formation in 1950 until 2009, when they were promoted to the Football League. The club's home ground is the Pirelli Stadium, having moved from Eton Park in 2005, and their nickname is The Brewers, stemming from the town's brewing heritage dating back hundreds of years. History Burton Albion were formed in 1950, and joined the Birmingham & District League. They finished the 1953–54 season as runners-up, and in 1958–59 joined the Southern League North Western zone. In 1965–66 Burton missed out on the runners-up place on goal difference, but were still promoted to the Southern League Premier Division. They avoided relegation in 1968, thanks to Stevenage Town folding, but were relegated to Division One after an unsuccessful 1969–70 season. Burton missed out on promotion on goal average in 1970–71, but finished as runners-up the following season and were promoted back to the Premier Division. The next two seasons saw them relegated, and then promoted back to the Premier Division again. They stayed in the same division until being relegated once more at the end of 1976–77. League rearrangements saw Burton moved to the Northern Premier League, because of their location in the central Midlands, and then back to the Southern League in 1987–88, the season after losing in a replayed FA Trophy Final to Kidderminster Harriers. In October 1998, Nigel Clough was appointed as player-manager and he led the club to two successive runners-up spots, in 1999–2000 and 2000–01. Burton were again moved to the Northern Premier League Premier Division in 2001–02, which they won by a margin of 15 points, scoring 106 goals in the process. The club were promoted to the Football Conference for the first time. The club was brought to national attention when they were drawn at home against 11-times winners Manchester United in the third round of the 2005–06 FA Cup. The Brewers held the Premier League team to a 0–0 draw at home, but lost the replay 5–0 in front of over 11,000 Burton fans, setting a record for number of away fans at Old Trafford. In January 2009, with Burton 13 points clear at the top of the table, Clough left Burton to become the manager of Derby County, with Roy McFarland installed as caretaker manager until the end of the season. Despite this managerial change, Burton went on to set a league record for the most consecutive wins, and in February 2009, when the team was 19 points clear at the top of the table, Conference sponsors Blue Square declared Burton the winners of the 2008–09 title in a PR stunt in which they paid out all bets. Following that announcement, the club saw their lead reduced week by week, but secured promotion to the Football League in the final game of the season, despite losing 2–1 away to Torquay United when Cambridge United could only manage a goalless draw to Altrincham. At the end of the season Roy McFarland left the club and was replaced by Paul Peschisolido, with Gary Rowett acting as his assistant. Burton's first win in the Football League was 5–2 against Morecambe at the Pirelli Stadium and they finished 13th in their first campaign in the Football League. In their second season Burton claimed a notable scalp in the FA Cup third round when they knocked out Championship team Middlesbrough 2–1 at the Pirelli Stadium. In the league, Burton experienced a 17-game winless run and fell from 5th place on Boxing Day to 17th place at the end of the 2011–12 season, which led to the sacking of Peschisolido. Gary Rowett was appointed as the new manager of Burton in May 2012. In his first full season in charge, he led Burton to a fourth-place finish and the play-offs, missing out on automatic promotion by two points. Burton lost their play-off semi-final 4–5 on aggregate to Bradford City despite winning the first leg 3–2 at Valley Parade. In the 2013–14 season, Burton finished 6th, reaching the play-off final in which they lost 1–0 against Fleetwood Town. During the 2014–15 season, Rowett left to join Birmingham City, and was replaced by Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink. Under Hasselbaink the Brewers won League Two and were promoted to League One for the first time in their history. Hasselbaink left by mutual consent in December 2015 to join Queens Park Rangers as manager, leaving Albion at the top of League One. Former manager Nigel Clough returned and guided the team to a second place finish and back-to-back promotions, this meant they would be in the second tier of English football for the first time. Rivalries In their non-League days the Brewers' local rivals were Gresley Rovers,16 Nuneaton Borough, Stafford Rangers and Tamworth. However, since the club's rise to the Football League these rivalries have become less intense. Following promotion to the Football League, local rivalries with Port Vale, Crewe Alexandra, Notts County, Chesterfield and Walsall have arisen. Except for Notts County, all these clubs had been rivals to Albion's predecessor, Burton United in the early 1900s. There is also a largely friendly rivalry with Derby County, partly because of the shared fanbase, but particularly following the transfer of manager Nigel Clough to the Championship club in 2009 and the arrival of several ex-Derby players during the Paul Peschisolido era. Since promotion to the Championship in 2016 Albion embarked on rivalries with the likes of Derby County, Birmingham City, Wolves and Aston Villa. Players 'Current squad' 'Out on loan' Honours Records